Reading about the life of young Paul Baümer and his comrades in war brings forth a variety of emotions. The reader really gets to know Paul, his feelings towards the war, and his experiences as though you were intimate friends with the young soldier. He shares his deepest feelings, thoughts and emotions with the reader which makes the book very human. This intimacy with Paul also makes the reader see the war through a soldier's eyes and puts them out there on the front with him. The author, Erick Maria Remarque, wants the reader to go through the same emotions that Paul goes through at this tumultuous time of war. The way that Remarque makes Paul the narrator gives the reader a great first-person subjective view. In reading this book I was completely enthralled. This was the first time I had completely read this book and I truly enjoyed it. I recall starting to read this book in middle-school upon the recommendation of my older sister, but found the book uninteresting at that point of my life when teeny-bopper books were more appealing. One definitely needs a mature perspective upon reading this book. The biggest issues and feelings that this book brought out in me were the shock of the war to these young men and the effects it has on their lives, and of course the foolishness of war itself.
             These young soldiers volunteered their services to their country even before they had graduated from school. Upon entering the service, they were still children. Their surviving the trenches of the front-line made them men. They were forced to grow up extremely quickly, being that the only other option was to die. Remarque emphasizes this point throughout the book. He states how the young and inexperienced new recruits would just stand there unable to move or react and would be slaughtered in great numbers being that their training was insufficient as well as the fact that they were still just children in men's un...